Louis Kahn
Early Life and Education
Louis Kahn was born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky on February 20, 1901, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia, which was then part of the Russian Empire. His family was of Jewish descent and lived in poverty. When he was three years old, he was severely burned in a coal fire accident, which left his face permanently scarred.
In 1906, his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia. His father found work as a craftsman, but the family continued to struggle financially. Despite these hardships, Kahn was a talented and ambitious young man. He showed an early aptitude for art and music, and he was a gifted pianist.
He attended public schools in Philadelphia and won a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Fine Arts, one of the most prestigious architecture schools in the country. The school’s curriculum was based on the French Beaux-Arts tradition, which emphasized the study of classical architecture, the importance of drawing, and the creation of monumental and orderly compositions.
Kahn was a brilliant student, and he excelled in the Beaux-Arts system. He studied under the influential French-born architect Paul Philippe Cret, who was a master of the Beaux-Arts style. From Cret, Kahn learned the importance of structure, order, and the clear articulation of served and servant spaces.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1924, Kahn worked as a draftsman for several Philadelphia architects, including his former professor, Paul Cret. He also served as the chief of design for the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
In 1928, he embarked on a year-long tour of Europe, where he sketched and studied the architecture of the past. He was particularly drawn to the medieval walled cities of Italy and the massive, solid forms of Roman and Egyptian ruins. These ancient structures, with their sense of permanence and their powerful, elemental geometry, would have a profound and lasting influence on his work.
He returned to the United States at the beginning of the Great Depression and spent the next two decades in relative obscurity, working on a series of small-scale projects and collaborations, and teaching at various universities. It was not until the 1950s, when he was already in his fifties, that he began to produce the series of masterpieces that would establish him as one of the most important architects of the 20th century.
Architectural Philosophy and Career
Louis Kahn’s architectural philosophy was a deep and poetic search for the essential nature of things. He was a modernist who was deeply critical of the functionalism of the International Style, and he sought to create an architecture that was more monumental, more meaningful, and more timeless.
His philosophy was rooted in a series of personal and often mystical concepts. He spoke of the difference between “form” and “design,” where “form” was the abstract, essential idea of a thing, and “design” was the specific, circumstantial solution. He believed that the architect’s task was to understand the “form” of a building—its essential purpose and meaning—and then to give it shape through “design.”
He was also fascinated by the idea of “what a building wants to be.” He believed that every building had an inherent nature, and that the architect’s job was to discover and express it. He famously asked a brick, “What do you want, brick?” and the brick replied, “I like an arch.”
Kahn’s work is characterized by its use of simple, powerful geometric forms, its emphasis on the expressive qualities of materials, and its masterful manipulation of natural light. He was a master of creating a sense of weight, mass, and permanence in his buildings. He often used heavy, monolithic materials like brick and concrete, and he was interested in revealing the process of construction.
He was also a master of light. He saw light as the “giver of all presences,” and he used it to create spaces that were both monumental and intimate, both awe-inspiring and serene. He often used skylights, light courts, and other devices to bring natural light into the heart of his buildings, and he was interested in the way that light could reveal the texture and character of materials.
Kahn’s career was a long and slow evolution. After years of working on small projects, he received his first major commission in 1951, for the Yale University Art Gallery. This project, with its innovative tetrahedral ceiling structure and its clear distinction between “served” and “servant” spaces, marked the beginning of his mature period.
From the 1950s until his death in 1974, he produced a series of major works that would have a profound impact on the course of modern architecture. He was also a highly influential teacher, and his studios at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania were legendary. He taught a generation of architects to think more deeply about the meaning and purpose of their work.
Notable and Famous Works
Louis Kahn’s body of built work is relatively small, but it includes some of the most powerful and admired buildings of the 20th century.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1965) in La Jolla, California, is one of his most famous and beloved works. The institute consists of two symmetrical laboratory buildings that face each other across a central travertine plaza. A narrow channel of water runs down the center of the plaza, creating a line of perspective that leads to the Pacific Ocean. The buildings are made of raw concrete and teak, and their powerful, rhythmic forms create a sense of timeless monumentality.
The Kimbell Art Museum (1972) in Fort Worth, Texas, is a masterpiece of museum design. The museum is composed of a series of parallel, cycloid-shaped concrete vaults. A narrow slit at the top of each vault is fitted with a wing-shaped reflector that diffuses natural light and casts a silvery glow on the underside of the vaults, creating the perfect conditions for viewing art.
The National Assembly Building (1982) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is Kahn’s largest and most complex project. It is a monumental government complex that is made of raw concrete and inlaid with white marble. The building is a powerful and symbolic work of architecture that has become a symbol of Bangladeshi democracy. Kahn worked on the project for over two decades, and it was completed after his death.
The Phillips Exeter Academy Library (1972) in Exeter, New Hampshire, is one of the world’s great modern libraries. The exterior of the building is a simple brick facade, but the interior is a dramatic and awe-inspiring space. A large, circular atrium rises through the center of the building, with massive concrete cross-beams and a sky-lit ceiling.
The Yale University Art Gallery (1953) in New Haven, Connecticut, was Kahn’s first major commission and a key early work. The gallery is known for its innovative tetrahedral concrete ceiling, which integrates the building’s structural, mechanical, and lighting systems into a single, unified element.
Awards, Honors, and Legacy
Louis Kahn received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the AIA Gold Medal in 1971 and the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1972.
His legacy is that of a poet and a philosopher of architecture. He was a modernist who reconnected the modern movement with the timeless and monumental qualities of the past. He rejected the lightweight transparency of the International Style and created an architecture of weight, mass, and substance.
His influence on later generations of architects has been immense. Architects such as Tadao Ando, Mario Botta, and Norman Foster have all acknowledged their debt to Kahn. His ideas about form, order, and light, and his search for a more meaningful and authentic architecture, continue to inspire architects and students around the world.
Kahn’s personal life was complex and unconventional. He had three children with three different women, and he was constantly in debt. He died of a heart attack in a men’s restroom in Pennsylvania Station in New York City on March 17, 1974. He was returning from a trip to India to supervise the construction of the Indian Institute of Management, another of his major projects. Because his passport was missing his address, his body was not identified for three days. It was a tragic and lonely end for a man who had created some of the most powerful and enduring works of architecture of his time.